Nick Nolte goes from Sexiest Man Alive to Santa Claus

Former Sexiest Man Alive Nick Nolte, at the SiriusXM Studios on March 12, 2018, is looking like Santa Claus these days. (Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Nick Nolte has always done things his way — and at 77 that still applies, especially in the case of his hair.

The three-time Academy Award nominee is virtually unrecognizable these days beneath an unruly mass of facial — and noggin — hair. On Monday, the actor, who’s been promoting his memoir Rebel, visited the SiriusXM Studios in NYC sporting a long white beard, walrus-like mustache, and unruly locks sprouting out under his cap. There were Santa Claus vibes all the way.

Nolte has long marched to his own beat, but at one point in time he was named Sexiest Man Alive. After his college football career ended, he made a big mark in Hollywood, going on to star in films including 1991’s The Prince of Tides and 1999’s Affliction. In between those films, he was picked by People magazine as the sexiest star of 1992. (For the record, it’s something that he found humorous. While he had the mag cover framed in his office, “when people mention it, he’s likely to thrust out his gut and say, ‘There. Is that sexy?’” a friend said.)

Of course, his wild hair these days also takes us back to his infamous mug shot. A decade after receiving the sexy title, he was arrested for driving under the influence of GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate) in 2002 and his mug shot went viral — long before things truly went viral.

“It went viral — my hair wild, my expression unsettling, looking like an asylum inmate out for a lark,” he wrote in his book. “In 1992, People magazine had named me the Sexiest Man Alive, and now, 10 years later, I looked to all the world like a madman.”

Though the incident served as a wake-up call (“I was just worn out,” he said in January). Today he abstains from alcohol and drugs and finds happiness raising his 10-year-old daughter, Sophie, with his wife, Clytie Lane.

Nick Nolte is joined by his family at his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in November 20017. (Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)